Liner for shopping carts

ABSTRACT

A cover for the seat portion or area of a shopping cart or the like includes a main body portion having a bottom wall which seats on the base of the seat portion and a sidewall which envelops the sides and extends over the top of the seat portion of the shopping cart. The cover includes a pair of cut-out sections coincident with openings in the shopping cart for inserting a child&#39;s feet or other occupant&#39;s feet therethrough. The cover is, preferably, formed from a two-ply laminate, having an interior surface which is liquid absorbent and an exterior layer which creates a liquid impervious layer to prevent any seepage of liquid therepast.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a completion application of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/901,207, filed Feb. 13, 2007 for “Liner for Shopping Carts” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to sanitation devices. More particularly, the present invention pertains to covers for shopping carts. More particularly, the present invention concerns disposable covers for shopping carts.

2. Prior Art

As is known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains, there has been great attention dealt with the transmission of germs in public places. Recently, there has been heavy promotion of the use of “wipes” for cleaning or sanitizing shopping carts wherein the user takes the wipe and wipes it across the handle and various other portions of the cart. One of the areas to which little attention has been made is the seating portion wherein babies and young children are transported. Typically, in a conventional shopping cart, the seating portion comprises a wire interior wall which is hingedly rotatable for expansion and collapse against the rearward portion of the shopping cart. Typically, foot holes are provided so that the child's legs can extend therethrough.

Children, especially infants, who wear diapers, are prone to accidents and, yet, there are few devices available for maintaining the seating portion of a shopping cart in a sanitary condition.

The prior art has tried to solve this issue. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,417, there is disclosed a seat made of a thin sheet of flexible material such as cotton, polyester, nylon, linen, etc. However, the device thereof is tedious to install since it includes portions which overlie various portions of the shopping cart. This is similarly true of other prior art devices such as found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,517,155 and 6,848,743.

In order for such a device to be used on a regular basis and be provided by either the supermarket owner or even carried by the user it must be economical, readily disposable and, preferably, biodegradable.

As is described hereinafter, the present invention addresses these issues.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cover or liner for the seating portion or area of a shopping cart and which generally comprises a two-ply member having an interior surface and an exterior surface. The interior surface being formed from a liquid absorbent material and the exterior surface is formed from a water impervious material. In construction, the cover, or liner, comprises a main body having a bottom wall, a circumferential continuous sidewall and an open top. The sidewall is provided with at least a pair of cut-out portions adapted to be coincident with openings provided in the seating portion of a shopping cart.

Preferably, the liner is at least in part formed from a biodegradable material for environmental purposes.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention reference is made to the following detailed description and accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an installation on a shopping cart of the liner according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the liner of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial top plan view of the liner of the present invention shown as a template.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Now, with reference to the drawings, there is shown therein a liner or cover, generally, denoted at 10 which is particularly adapted for use in conjunction with a shopping cart 12. More particularly, the cover 10 hereof is particularly adapted for utilization with a seating portion or area 14 of the shopping cart 12.

As is known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains, generally, shopping carts such as that each 12 provide a seating portion for emplacing a child thereon which includes a seat 13 which is constrained between the rear wall and a rotatable intermediate wall. Openings 16 and 18 provided in the rear wall of the cart enable a child's feet to project therethrough.

As shown in the drawing, the present cover or liner comprises a main body member 20 which includes a bottom wall 22, a circumferential continuous sidewall 24 integral with the bottom wall 22 and an open top or perimetral top edge 26.

A pair of cut-out portions 30 and 32 is formed within the sidewall 24 and is adapted to be coincident with the openings 16, 18 in the shopping cart 12 when the cover is placed therewithin.

The present cover further includes means for temporarily securing the cover about the seating portion, such as an elastic band 34. The band 34 is disposed along and at the top of the perimetral edge 26 and extends therearound. As shown, the elastic band 26 can and preferably, is enclosed within the top edge 26 by enveloping it with the material from which the cover is formed. This can be accomplished by any suitable means such as stitching, gluing, etc. In this regard, the material used to form the cover overlaps the elastic material and is placed thereover to enclose the band.

The elastic band, itself, can be formed from any suitable stretchable material having a memory. Such are well known and commercially available.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cover hereof is formed from a template which, generally, comprises a substantially rectangular body which then has the elastic band emplaced about the perimeter thereof. The band, being a continuous member with a length less than that of the perimeter, comports or urges the body portion to the shape of an “open top” bowl, i.e. it scrunches the body.

The cut-out portions are formed in the template and then used to define the foot openings.

In manufacturing the present cover, it is desired that the body be a two-ply member, having an interior surface 36 and exterior surface 38. The interior surface 36 is formed from a liquid absorbent material and the exterior surface or layer 38 is formed from a liquid or water impervious material. In this manner, any seepage through a diaper or the like will be absorbed by the interior or inner layer 36 and the water impervious layer 38 precludes any seepage from flowing therepast into contact with the shopping cart. In other words, the water impervious layer creates a barrier to prevent the flow of liquid therepast.

The cover, itself, can be formed in such manner where at least the interior layer is formed from a biodegradable material such as cotton, a cellulosic material or the like. The exterior layer can be formed from a suitable thin-walled material such as polyethylene or the like. Laminated two-ply materials comprising both the absorbent layer and the water impervious layer are well known and commercially available.

In use, the elastic band enables the cover to be snuggly attached to the seat portion, as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the cover is used to envelop not only the seat but the hinged interior wall of the cart as well as the handle portion thereof and sidewalls to completely enshroud the seating area of the shopping cart.

It should be noted that if preventing contact with the seat portion of the cart only is desired, then, either just a cellulosic material, fibrous material or a water impervious material, alone, without the need for a laminate may be used to enshroud the seat portion.

It is apparent from the preceding that there has been described herein a cover or liner, for shopping carts and the like which overcomes the problems in the prior art but at the same time is efficacious in its use and is environmentally advantageous.

Having, thus, described the invention what is claimed is: 

1. A removable liner for a seat area of a shopping cart, comprising: (a) a main body portion including: a bottom wall dimensioned to fit atop the bottom seat portion of a shopping cart seat; or a sidewall integrally formed with the bottom wall and extending about the interior sides of the seating area, the sidewall including a pair of cut-out portions for projecting the legs of a user therethrough, and (b) means for temporarily securing the liner in position, and wherein the liner is at least one of a cellulosic material, a fibrous material or a liquid impervious material.
 2. The liner of claim 1 wherein the liner comprises a biodegradable material.
 3. The liner of claim 1 which comprises: a two-ply laminate material, a first ply comprising a liquid absorbent material, and a second ply comprising a liquid impervious material.
 4. A removable liner for a seating area of a shopping cart, comprising: (a) a bottom wall dimensioned to fit atop the bottom of a seating area of a shopping cart, (b) a sidewall integrally formed with the bottom wall and extending about the interior sides of the seating area, the sidewall including a pair of cut-out portions for projecting the legs of a user therethrough, (c) means for removably positioning and securing the liner about the seating area, and wherein the liner is of a two ply laminate material of an exterior liquid impervious material and an interior liquid absorbent material.
 5. The liner of claim 4 wherein the means for affixing comprises an elastic band affixed to the sidewall and extending therearound, the band engaging the seating area of the basket to secure the liner in position.
 6. The liner of claim 4 wherein the liquid absorbent material is a cellulosic material.
 7. In combination with a shopping cart of the type having a seating area which include a bottom, a pair of opposed sidewalls, a forward wall and rear wall, the walls cooperating to define the seating area, the rear wall having a pair of openings provided therein, a removable and disposable liner therefor, comprising: (a) a bottom wall dimensioned to fit atop the bottom of the seating area, (b) a continuous sidewall integral with the bottom wall and disposed within the seating area, the sidewall including a pair of cut-out portions adapted to be coincident with the openings in the rear wall of the seating area to enable the legs of a user to project therethrough, (c) means for temporarily securing the liner in position, and wherein the liner is a two-ply member having a first liquid impervious layer and a second liquid absorbent layer.
 8. The combination of claim 8 wherein the means for affixing comprises: an elastic band secured to the sidewall and extending therearound, the band being implaceable about the periphery of the seating area to enable the liner to be temporarily secured in position about the seating area. 